What Are We Doing For Lent? What Christians Believe

Set Free: Christianity and Non-Believers Converge Every Lent

How are you getting into better shape this spring? Above (left): Fr. Josh Johnson hosts his first Lenten program, Set Free, based on his new book, Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins. Above (right): Bishop Robert Barron has just released a new book, What Christians Believe, to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, written in 325 AD (and prayed at every Catholic Mass every day). Collage by Josseph Serwach with book art from Ascenssion Press and Word on Fire.

Like life, Lent is a training process, sacrificing now for a greater joy.

Lent and spring training align: Christians aren’t obligated to attend Mass on Ash Wednesday, but Masses are packed as Lent leads us to Easter. What are we doing for Lent?

Even Christians who don’t practice their faith seem drawn to “giving something up,” whether we call it Lent, a meatless day, a dry month, or intermittent fasting.

“Every trial reveals what’s in our hearts,” Father Mike Schmitz says, comparing Lent to the popular “training montage” scenes in film classics like Rocky: work and sacrifice to become better versions of ourselves.

“The power of fasting is super powerful,” actor Jonathan Roumie (who plays Jesus Christ in The Chosen) says in a recent interview, detailing how he’s fasted and prayed for people and “It’s a game changer.”

He acknowledged that fasting is “foreign” to many people and requires an explanation, but he said most understand the ultimate, agonizing alternative is “not having any boundaries.”